Sports site owned by Nicholas Cosmo fetches $3.4M

BY THOMAS MAIER

thomas.maier@newsday.com

8:53 PM EDT, June 4, 2009


A large indoor sports facility in Hauppauge, once owned by accused swindler Nicholas Cosmo, was sold Thursday for $3.4 million to a Commack-based company that plans to turn it into Long Island's latest soccer palace.

With bidders and curious onlookers standing on the field's green artificial turf, the bankruptcy court-approved auction started and ended with bids from Coastal Soccer Llc, owned by businessmen Tony Stein and Mark Newfield. They hope to open its doors to the public in the fall.

"We fell in love with it," Newfield said. Coastal Soccer had briefly used the indoor field for training until the collapse earlier this year of Cosmo's company, Agape World Inc.

Federal authorities said Agape World, once also based in Hauppauge, was a Ponzi-like scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors of $413 million. Cosmo, a Lake Grove resident, remains in a Nassau jail cell as his attorney and federal prosecutors negotiate a $1.25-million bail package.

Thursday's sale of the sports facility was part of the continuing effort by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court-appointed trustee Kenneth P. Silverman to sell assets and recover money spent by Cosmo's Agape firm.

Previous auctions sold off Agape's office furniture and equipment and a luxury car. Silverman estimated that several other former Agape investments in real estate, stock and other financial instruments - worth some $20 million on face value - remain to be sorted out and sold in the coming months.

Although there were some 300 inquiries about the sports facility, only a few bids were made at the auction, with Coastal's winning offer of $3.4 million accepted within minutes. The auctioneer, David R. Maltz & Co., had initially obtained a $3-million offer from Coastal before the auction. Those involved in the sale say the winning bid was close to the estimated $3.5 million that Cosmo had poured into the facility originally, including its purchase and many improvements. Stein and Newfield said they expect to make additional changes to the building to secure the needed town approval before opening to the public.

"It's a tremendous facility for soccer and indoor soccer leagues," said Silverman, who was pleased with the amount of the winning bid in a depressed real estate market. "They say this is one of the best soccer places on the Island."